Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze responded to media questions regarding reports that ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party founder and Honorary Chair, Bidzina Ivanishvili’s children living abroad have had their bank accounts restricted, calling the information false.
Kaladze explained that Ivanishvili, the former Georgian Prime Minister, is being treated unfairly by foreign banks for political reasons, with his assets being withheld despite winning court cases.
“Stop spreading this nonsense and lies. The man has won every court case, and they are treating him unfairly for political reasons, refusing to return his money. Bidzina Ivanishvili has already made a statement about this. It’s just an attempt to scare people. To those attempting this, I say, there’s no problem if we get sanctioned,” Kaladze stated.
He further explained that the potential motivation behind sanctions against government officials is Georgia’s refusal to join international sanctions or open a second war front in the current geopolitical situation.
“It’s unclear why we should be sanctioned. What has the Georgian government done to deserve this? We are doing two things—protecting our country by not opening a second front and not joining sanctions. If someone wants to treat us unjustly for that and punish us, so be it. It’s absurd to say transparency is anti-democratic; they contradict the very principles of democracy and European values with these statements,” Kaladze concluded.
